CT Only: Phil's Gas Giant Fill-er-up

[Supplement Four]

Reading THIS THREAD made me think of something totally different.

I thought that this might be a neat touch for a game.

What if there's a station in orbit around a GG that provides fuel for starships? Is that economically viable? I suppose it would be if fuel was needed and business was brisk.

I suppose if the main world was stellar masked to a large degree (see THIS THREAD to explore that idea), that might be the reason that most traffic swings by the GG on their outbound leg before reaching the jump point.

I imagine the station could have fuel shuttles that gather the raw fuel, and the station would basically be a processing plant that refines the fuel.





There can be some interesting permutations to this idea. What if the main world is balkanized, and it is country from that world that establishes the GG station (maybe backed up by a MegaCorp)?

Setting a game on the station might be interesting. What if one of the players rolls up a noble? The station would be an intriguing fief. This could be "home base" to some adventures.

Pirates hit the station?

An anomaly is detected inside the GG. Pull out Adv 1. There's an old Battle Cruiser floating in the thing! Or...an Ancient Site is detected!

 

[whartung]

Reading THIS THREAD made me think of something totally different.

I thought that this might be a neat touch for a game.

What if there's a station in orbit around a GG that provides fuel for starships? Is that economically viable? I suppose it would be if fuel was needed and business was brisk.

A while ago I worked out the costs of having fuel shuttles working the gas giants, then pushing their filled tanks toward the inner system, where they were gathered to fuel large jump ships. I had ship designs etc.

In you had a fuel shuttle with a detachable tank. It skims the the gas giant, then puts the tank on a vector to the inner system.

Eventually it arrives, where it is "caught" by another fuel shuttle, processed, and then vectored back. The tanks were just tanks. Big boxes in space (vs "ships" with drives).

You have a train of containers in flight, and several parked on each end.

I don't recall the actual numbers, but it worked out to be profitable for the corporation over buying fuel at 500cr/ton.

The overall gist was the idea of fueling large cargo tenders solely from drop tanks. (Fuel the jump drive, drop the tank, and off they go with minimal fuel burden.)

 

[mike wightman]

The Imperial Starport authority and or the megacorporations that operate most of the starports and maintain their fuel monopoly would declare a trade war and destroy your station. Unless you pay off the local duke and IN captains to protect your interests... (I've likened the Imperium to being akin to the mob for a while now)


If the 'mainworld' is masked then your refueling station also becomes the logical place to pick up passengers and cargo, brought there by insystem craft that are not paying the overheads of jump drive and jump fuel tankage.


Your 'gas station' would soon become the main starport for the system and would be designated as the mainworld for interstellar traffic.

 

[coliver988]

Gas Giant Gas Stations

I've used a couple of those ideas in the past. Local system a desert world, there's a station (or more) in the gas giants (somewhere I've got a really cool gas mining station someone did for Traveller - I'd post but it is not mine, although it may be in the image library; but I've also a few other refineries like that, although I've never done a Bespin type as that would, as mentioned, probably become the main port depending on the main world).


I've also stationed them in the belts that had ice rocks. Have no idea if real science supports that, but MTU certainly does. Heck - the Scout Way Station I did up for Cyan is in the belt for easy resource mining and cheap repair bays (hollow out a giant asteroid rock and you have a short-sleeve, 0G environment for repairs/construction)

It is in the images area. Got the associated PDF probably in the files area someplace (checked - misc section, March 2017).

I've even played with the idea of the wagon train of cargos being tossed (been a staple of more than 1 SF book) and something goes wrong and the players have to fix it. Never could figure out what could go wrong as orbital mechanics are pretty well known...

 

[BRJN]

I designed a "do-it-yourself" unrefined fuel providing operation for a Spinward Main world between two reasonable trade partner planets, near the Sword Worlds (and outside Imperial territory), digging up ice on a vacuum world. Using Traveller Book equipment only. It could just barely make a profit supplying fuel to passing Beowulfs, but the arrival of any Imperial Navy ships wanting a fill-up would completely empty its tanks. Business Investment Number One would be a refining plant of course, followed by increasing capacity. This might be replicable on a scale similar to asteroid belters, in systems with a C or less starport anyways.

 

[GypsyComet]

The Imperial Starport authority and or the megacorporations that operate most of the starports and maintain their fuel monopoly would declare a trade war and destroy your station.

Who do you think is actually running such a station in the first place?

 

[coliver988]

Who do you think is actually running such a station in the first place?

Exactly - I have fuel stations that skim giants and send fuel back the the main world in slow, cheap fuel shuttles (although as per another thread, there may now be robotic tanks that are passing each other in their slow waltz between gas giants and the main world). This is for systems where the main world cannot support fuel for any number of reasons (desert world, political interference from local government, world is too hostile from an environmental viewpoint, etc) The SPA controls that, and the Imperial government maintains the SPA.

At least in MTU

 

[phavoc]

There's a similar article on Freelance Traveller - https://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/culture/reference/rhcat.html

 

[kilemall]

IMTU is a TL10 J-1 civilization, just reaching out across the stars, but Earth of course is a wee bit past 1 parsec to the next system over.


I have a series of stations on the edge of the Oort Cloud that refuels the J-1 tank sized traffic. The most infamous of course is Las Faustus, where your ship is refueled free- in exchange for an enforced layover of minimum 24 hours, and no rules are in place for entertainments and dreams/nightmares fulfilled. The station of course makes money like crazy.

Other stations are much more boring, particularly Merchant Service or the occasional nationalist fueling port.

Of course there are refueling stations for the 'small packet trade' runs, and the Pirate Clans no doubt have their facilities.

All of them are using ice rocks.


Another direction to go is model them after highway stations. In the 50s-70s the US had many now-extinct chains that offered up unique treats like pecan candies and a consistent look and service.


The modern one I would tend to want a chain for is Buc-ee's, a Texan convenience/gas stop that is a destination and has meticulously clean bathrooms.
https://www.buc-ees.com/articles.php

"Cleanest Freshers In This Universe" I guess would be the translated ad statement. Yummy sandwiches, an endearing mascot and stupid tourist stuff would make a similar-themed station a destination, not just a pit stop.




Biggest problem for a GG-based station would be the time going to the gas giant, I don't know that most merchant schedules are going to pay off if you have to buy fuel at the end of a run. The whole point is to skim and go for free, if you are even paying Cr100 for refined fuel the time cost is a bit much.

 

[Timerover51]

Is this anything like the

Old Home Filler-Up An’ Keep On A-Truckin’ Café

 

[whartung]

I have a series of stations on the edge of the Oort Cloud that refuels the J-1 tank sized traffic. The most infamous of course is Las Faustus, where your ship is refueled free- in exchange for an enforced layover of minimum 24 hours, and no rules are in place for entertainments and dreams/nightmares fulfilled. The station of course makes money like crazy.

Interesting that the ships are willing to trade crew for fuel, because I can imagine not everyone comes back.

The modern one I would tend to want a chain for is Buc-ee's, a Texan convenience/gas stop that is a destination and has meticulously clean bathrooms.
https://www.buc-ees.com/articles.php

You can tell a lot about an establishment by the quality of their bathrooms.

If i were to ever open a restaurant, the first thing I'd be asking potential crew hires is whether they liked cleaning bathrooms.

 

[kilemall]

Interesting that the ships are willing to trade crew for fuel, because I can imagine not everyone comes back.

Well a lot of the more 'boring' ships of course stay the hell away from the place. In some cases crews will be happy about that as they don't want trouble or know they will sink in deep, others will agitate for it.

Could be an issue for passengers too, some might desire to go there, even as a destination.


Could be an attractive way for the crew to unwind while not spending a whole 'down' week.



And of course it's like a sticky flypaper lure for a captain that is low on cash flow- can he hold together his crew for 24 hours and get out in one piece? Therein lies a tale.....

 

[BlackBat242]

Is this anything like the

Old Home Filler-Up An’ Keep On A-Truckin’ Café

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3ZdQJ4BeXI